Sweet Vintage Embroidery Lampshade or Textile Collage of Sorts

Geez,  somedays I can really get carried  designing and not even know where the time goes to....my style of meditation. The Zen of Lampshade Design... Somehow a couple hours have slipped by and I'm in the zone. I'm sure you guys know what I mean.... I'd say it's not a rare thing, but it doesn't happen all the time. Or maybe I just have to let it happen more often. Today I've started a couple of fun projects.

I'll show you the first one. It is a square clip shade, 4" top x 7" bottom x 7" high. A nice size table/desk lamp shade. Here's the embroidery I am working with. It has tons of holes, but most of the embroidery part is fine; I will work around the bad parts. I have chosen the square shape because that is what works best with the amount of fabric and the pattern. It will keep most of " the good stuff" intact.

   

I cut out the 4 panels of styrene and laminated them to the fabric and cut out. Note: I trimmed the back of the embroidery; this can be tedious and you have to be careful not to nip the fabric.... done that before!!! I trim the threads because it looks better when lite up.
 

All was going swell till I had to figure out trims... nothing really matched for the trims- so I found something similar. Another embroidery scrap that blended really pretty. I am showing the pressure sensitive cloth tape. I comes on big rolls-sticky on one side. The Lampshop calls it "Bias Fold Trim Backer #322. It goes on the back of the fabric.
 

Next for the top and bottom trim. This took some searching. The grass green is not one of my colors, which can sometimes be a problem cause I don't have too many things in my shop that is that color and don't usually want to highlight it. I found these 2 scallop edgings from 2 different vintage pieces. It can be fun to use them by folding the edge back onto itself. I added the 5/8" grosgrain first and then the scallop edging.
 

I added the trims. It's funny how some of the coolest shades don't look so great in photographs... this one looks much better in my shop.... oh well. And here it is lit up on a vintage glass lamp.

Cost: $75.
 

I want to mention a blog:Textile Treasure Seeker

It's is a great blog for all of us fabric lovers. Katie is a freelance writer and very generously reviewed my book. Thank You Katie! I really appreciate the wonderful review. I loved her blog list;  it was such a treat to see some fresh new blogs from the UK. I recommend checking out her site. Blogging sure has made the world a little smaller once again. And now it's time for another cup of tea on this side of the ocean.